China Deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations the Instrument of Acceptance for the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol

2014/06/02

Ambassador Wang Min of the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations China's Instrument of Acceptance of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol on 2 June 2014.

The Doha Amendment was adopted on 8 December 2012 in Doha, Qatar. The Doha Amendment makes arrangements for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. It provides for quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments for Annex I Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with a view to reducing collectively their overall emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 18% below 1990 levels in the commitment period from 2013 to 2020.

The Amendment is a result of hard negotiations. It maintained the principles of the Convention, especially the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities, equity and respective capabilities. It followed the emission reduction model of the Kyoto Protocol, and ensured there is no gap in law between the first and second commitment period. China hopes that developed countries accept the Doha Amendment as soon as possible to ensure its early entry into force.

China attaches great importance to addressing climate change, regarding this as an important part of its effort to promote ecological progress and to build a beautiful country, including this in China's national development plan and having conducted a range of adaptation and voluntary mitigation actions. The Chinese Government has announced a 40%-45% reduction of CO2 intensity below 2005 levels by 2020. China is committed to making every effort to achieve this target.